Next
up is a big dose of horror from the past, including a new take on a
real life horror and departures from the genre by one of its
masters...

Between
Night & Dawn: The Films Of George A. Romero
(1971 - 1973)

This
review encompasses three new releases from Arrow Video, available
together in the box set Between
Night and Dawn: The Films of George A. Romero
and just now being available on Blu-ray separately. Each film
drastically different from one another, fans can now embrace some of
the master filmmaker's lesser known works in these fantastic new
presentations.

There's
Always Vanilla
(1971)

Previously
unavailable and a nice little time capsule peace, There's
Always Vanilla
was made shortly after Night
of the Living Dead
in 1968. Vanilla
is a product of the production company Latent Image which included
George A. Romero and producers Russell Streiner and John A. Russo and
makes it unique on that merit alone. Wanting to prove that they
could make films that weren't strictly horror, There's
Always Vanilla
is an interesting romantic comedy experiment with some laughs and a
nice look back on 1970s Pittsburgh. This is one of the few Romero
films that he didn't write and one that he wasn't necessarily too
fond of either.... despite it really not being that bad!

A
drifter (Laine) moves back to Pittsburgh from L.A. and finds his
ex-girlfriend has surprised him with a kid whom she claims to his.
Unsure how he feels about the situation or if he believes her, he
soon bumps into a commercial model (Streiner) and the two fall for
one another. Exploring the rise and fall of their relationship, the
two couldn't be any more different however are oddly attracted to one
another. When a pregnancy pops up, things get heated and serious
real quick and final decisions must be made to determine their future
together...

Originally
shot on 16mm film, the film looks surprisingly good in this new HD
presentation. Featuring a full frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and an
English LPCM Mono track. Some of the skin tones are a bit white and
a little too red, however it looks pretty good considering the age of
the print. There's a few hairs in the image and grain, but all in
all the film looks pretty good here.

Special
Features...

Audio
Commentary with Travis Crawford

Digging
Up the Dead: The Lost Films of George A. Romero

Image
Galleries

Trailers

Reversible
Cover Art

Season
of the Witch
(1972)

Another
tough to find Romero film until this new release, Season
of the Witch
(also known as Hungry Wives), has found newly restored life on disc
courtesy of Arrow. An interesting and surreal use of sound design
and visuals, the film taps into the mental state of a Pittsburgh
housewife Joan Mitchell (Jan White) that embraces the religion and
supernatural abilities of witchcraft. Described by Romero as a
'feminist' film, this interesting horror drama is one that fans
should most definitely check out. (And yes they play the song
'Season
of the Witch'
by Donovan in the film, though Romero apparently was not for it.)

Joan
Mitchell is tormented by terrible dreams spawned by new neighbors who
move into her quiet Pittsburgh neighborhood. Unsatisfied by her
boring housewife life, Janet becomes intrigued when the new neighbors
mention their religion of witchcraft. Soon becoming obsessed with
learning their witchy ways, Janet dedicates herself to the cause and
ends up biting off a bit more than she can chew as her life
dramatically changes.

Season
of the Witch
is presented on Blu-ray disc in 1080p high definition and a 1.33:1
full frame aspect ratio complete with an original uncompressed PCM
Mono Audio track and a new 4K restoration from the original camera
negative. This theatrical version of the film is crystal clear and
quite impressive considering the age and low budget of the film. The
soundtrack is a bit ahead of its time and unnerving with weird sounds
and motifs that attempt to capture Joan's mental state. Overall, a
nice job done by Arrow here.

Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by Gilles
Vranckx

The
Crazies
(1973)

Romero’s
non-zombie movie, The
Crazies
(1973), is one of his more well known films and was of course remade
in 2010. Socially relevant even today, The
Crazies
is a horrifying portrayal of a world torn apart by violence and
disease and the soul crushing repercussions that follow. Dawn
of the Dead
fans will notice quite a few familiar faces here as it was also
filmed near Pittsburgh around the same time. While a little dated,
Romero's The
Crazies
is a nice companion piece to his Living
Dead
series and a must watch for any cinephile.

When
an experimental government germ weapon spreads through the small
community of Evans City, PA the results become less than ideal.
Anyone who breaths in his germ ends up becoming rabidly violent and
very dangerous to those around them. White suited bio-hazard
military soldiers come through the town killing off the infected..
and even those who appear not to be in a desperate attempt to contain
the virus before it spreads.

Presented
and remastered in 4K from the original camera negative, the 1080p
presentation of the classic film has a 1.66:1 widescreen aspect ratio
and a restored LPCM Mono track, both of which are of very high
quality. The film has been released on Blu-ray before, but certainly
hasn't looked or sounded as good as it does here. So even if you own
the previous Blue Underground version, you'll definitely want to
upgrade, but keep the original for a key extra not included here.

Special
Features here include...

Brand
new audio commentary by Travis Crawford

Romero
Was Here: Locating The Crazies
- Romero historian Lawrence DeVincentz takes us on a guided tour of
Evans City, PA and the locations used in The
Crazies.

Crazy
for Lynn Lowry
- cult star Lynn Lowry discusses her early career including her role
in The

Umbrella
is one of the few companies that, like myself, truly care about the
art of movie trailers. This being the third entry in their library
of trailer compiles that are all cleverly titled Drive-In
Delirium
(and reviewed several places on this site). This entry, Drive-In
Delirium: The New Batch
(2018 compilation) is
focused on trailers from a wide range of genre films from the '60s,
'70s, '80s that were graced over in previous entries.

This
edition features 175 trailers divided into two sections named The
Quickening
and The
Spawning.
A few of the trailers on the disc include Death
Wish 3,
Caligula,
Amazon
Women on the Moon,
The
Burning,
The
Green Slime,
An
American Werewolf in London,
and way more!

The
trailers have been remastered in 1080p high definition with various
widescreen aspect ratios depending on the film and a nice 2.0 English
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) Mono lossless mix. Some of the trailers
look better than others due to their age and condition but for the
most part everything here looks pretty good.

Special
Features...

VHS
Delirious
- a bonus 95 minute SD Trailer reel

You
can't go wrong with a good trailer compile and Umbrella delivers the
goods here. This is great for discovering titles that you may have
missed or for hours of binge worthy trailer watching entertainment.

My
Friend Dahmer
(2017)
takes a new look at some of the younger years of the infamous serial
killer. While most focus films about the murders that made him
famous, this film rather focuses on his high school years as he
transitions from weird kid into a dangerous and sketchy character.
The film has great directing, interesting performances, and is sure
to make you feel a bit uneasy while watching it... because the lot of
it really happened.

Presented
in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and
a decent sounding, lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Shot on a modest
budget, the film has a muted look that makes it feel more like the
'70s. The sound mix isn't bad and the presentation is up to par with
other films of the like but nothing groundbreaking.

Special
Features...

Interview
with Ross Lynch

Behind
the Scenes Slideshow

Trailer

If
you have an interest in serial killer films, this is an interesting
'prequel' if you will and an interesting character study.

Finally,
Arrow continues to release H.G. Lewis films after the recent Blu-ray
editions of The
Gruesome Twosome
and Blood
Feast
(reviewed elsewhere on this site). This hillbilly murder double
feature is silly and over the top but not without Lewis' trademark
gore.

Two
Thousand Maniacs!
(1963) is a gorefest a decade before The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
and follows a group of unsuspecting Northerners who come across a
small Southern town that surprisingly puts these travels front and
center as 'guests of honor' in the midst of a festival-like
celebration. While everything seems innocent at first... it becomes
quickly clear that these Townspeople have other... sinister plans for
these tourists!

Two
Thousand Maniacs
is pretty fun and could actually be remade interestingly if under the
right direction. Some of the acting is a bit lackluster, but the
gore scenes really stick out as Lewis choses to not cutaway and
instead show more than most filmmakers dared for the time.

Arrow
also includes another H.G. Lewis flick made after Maniacs!
in this Blu-ray edition, Moonshine
Mountain
(1964), which is a similar Hillbilly Exploitation romp that is fun in
its own right. Chuck Scott plays a country western singer who goes
back home to Carolina and soon finds himself in the midst of a feud
between some the moonshiners and 'the Revenoores'.

Presented
in 1080p high definition and remastered with a 1.78:1 widescreen
aspect ratio and a 2.0 PCM uncompressed Mono track. The films are in
mostly good shape, however there are moments here where you can tell
the original source was compromised and replaced with lower quality
source. For the most part, the transfers are clean and without too
much noise.